The history of modern bikepacking races is quite short. The first races that can be given this label are some off-road races in the USA in the early 2000s: the IditaBike race on the Alaskan snow and the Great Divide Race across the Rocky Mountains. Road-based bikepacking races started with the World Cycle Race in 2012, then the first Transcontinental Race in Europe in 2013 brought much more attention. In addition to the more modern style of bikepacking races, near the origins of cycle sport in the late 1800s there were many people recording times for riding ultra-distances solo and self-supported.